‘Ghana must tackle human development’

Ghana is relatively a big country ranking 47th globally in terms of her population but as far as human development is concerned she is ranked 148th.

Professor Frimpong Boateng, a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, who disclosed this in Accra, urged the country’s private sector to help “finance some of these things, otherwise we will not survive.”

The renowned cardiothoracic surgeon was speaking at the inauguration of Healthnet Airport Medical Facility recently in Accra.

According to him, the Human Development Index (HDI) globally takes income, education and life expectancy into consideration.

He called for an increase in healthcare expenditure.

Ghana’s health sector can only boast of 2,700 doctors, but Professor Frimpong Boateng said about 42,300 more were needed to enable the country meet her healthcare needs.

“The shortfall in public spending on healthcare requires concerted efforts to encourage the private sector to deepen investment in medical education and facilities so that the country can match its new middle-income status with its healthcare needs.”

Also, he said going by the annual turnout of medical doctors in the country’s four medical schools, it would take about 100 years to produce the required number of doctors and that put Ghana’s healthcare in a terrible position.

The new medical facility, established in the airport residential enclave, provides ambulatory care, cardiac rehabilitation and services, general and specialist consultations, as well as educational opportunities for healthcare professionals, among others.

“In Ghana, the doctor-to-patient ratio is between one to 10,000 and 13,000. In some places, it is one to 54,000…So what it means is if we want to move from that to one doctor for about 500 patients, which corresponds to middle-income status as we claim, then we need about 48,000 doctors. In other words, we have a shortfall of 45,000 doctors now to meet today’s needs.

Dr. Harold Ayetey, Head of Internal Medicine of University of Cape Coast Medical School and a clinical consultant at Healthnet, said the establishment of the medical facility was the result of collaboration between medical doctors and financiers, most of whom were institutional investors to provide quality medical services.

This, he explained, is the motivation behind Healthnet’s association with Nationwide Mutual Healthcare to provide a financing and insurance scheme for patients to access quality healthcare services at an affordable rate.